


A Little Bite of Life

by Pinky_GOOLI002



Series: The Bite Series [6]
Category: Original Work
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Character Turned Into Vampire, Half-Vampires, Human/Vampire Relationship, Vampire Bites, Vampire Family, Vampire Turning, Vampires
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-31
Updated: 2020-03-31
Packaged: 2021-02-23 14:34:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 16,717
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23413039
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pinky_GOOLI002/pseuds/Pinky_GOOLI002
Summary: A collection of memories detailing the early life of a pair of unlikely twins. Robyn, the first half-vampire in history, grows and learns how to be both a human and a vampire, trying to find a place to fit in either world. Jamie, her human twin, trying to have her back.
Series: The Bite Series [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1665790
Kudos: 1





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> This is technically unfinished work, but I have tried to take it to three different places and can never make up my mind. So I wanted to put this up as what it is - their childhood.

“This is an abomination!” Octavia shrieked, staring down at the innocent baby girl with the mismatching eyes and wanting blood.

“Don’t you dare touch her,” Sullivan took a step forward and stood between Octavia and the baby, his hands in fists.

“Move child, this cannot be allowed to live,” Octavia raised her chin and tried to look down at Sullivan, but he was always taller than her, and her intimidation failed.

“No, I have had enough of your tyranny, of your misconceptions and superstitions,” this time it was he who looked down at her, “so don’t you lay a finger on my baby girl.”

“Are you challenging me? again? haven’t you learned that I always win?”

Sullivan didn’t even bother to reply in words, instead he launched himself at her.

The battle was gruesome, as they both scratched and kicked, throwing one another around with such force it almost made a hole in the stone wall when Sullivan threw Octavia into it.

The rest of the Lyne family stood around, knowing they could not interfere. This was Sullivan’s last try to defeat his mother, Octavia, and everyone knew this time she won’t leave him alive.

The blur of movement stopped, to leave Sullivan pinning Octavia on the floor, his knee between her shoulder blades, one hand pulling her dark hair, pulling her head aside, stretching her neck.

“Not this time,” he said, catching his breath, before he sank his fangs into Octavia’s neck and drank her blood.

Venessa screamed in despair, trying to run to her wife, only to be held back by her own child, Bradley.

They all watched Sullivan drink Octavia’s blood until her body went limp, and he let her go just before she lost consciousness.

The new head of the Lyne family stood up tall, blood dripping from his lips, and he looked every single member of his family in the eye, establishing dominance, and in return each of them lowered their head in acceptance.

“From now, this family will not stand for injustice, and it won’t stand for prejudice. We will be tolerant and accepting, so we will ride every change that comes our way, safe, and together.”


	2. A Little Context

Like most, I do not remember most of my childhood, so I will have to tell it as it was told to me by my mother, Lilibet.

She used to say all the time how lucky she was to have so much help when we were born. Unlike other mothers of twins, she had the help of two fathers rather than one: my human father, Norbert, and my twin sister vampire father, Sullivan. Whilst most parents of twins will struggle a lot to care for two new born babies at once, she had a vampire who could stay awake all night and hold us all day without getting tired, and a man who would do anything she needed to help.

She had some challenges, of course. It wasn’t all a walk in the park to bring up the weirdest pair of twins in the world: a human son and a half-vampire daughter.

Especially since our fathers didn’t always get along…

My mother, Lilibet, was Sullivan’s coffer, his blood bank, so their relationship was always intense, since she was addicted to his bite, the poison in his saliva that was her drug. On the other hand Norbert was her husband, and even though he was a coffer himself to Maeve, Sullivan’s niece, he never could truly let go of the jealousy.

I remember how he always inched away from Robyn, letting Sullivan take care of her whenever possible, even avoiding touching her when he could. Mother will always get so angry at him for it, “Norbert!” she would shout, “You might not be her biological father, but you’re still her dad, so stop with this foolishness or I will whoop you so hard you’ll be dizzy!”

We lived in a cottage called Mallachie View, not very far from Loch Mallachie, somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Scotland, just outside of the village Garten, or later as it will be known, Boat of Garten. It was Sullivan’s village, in a way, because since who knows when, he has been known as a vampire or a spirit in the village, was respected and was allowed to feed off whoever he wished to. Garten was the main reason we could stay so long in one place, even with all the political turmoil that expired at that time, because he was truly safe there; had plenty of nourishment and no risk.

To clear the air, the vampires that I grew up around rarely killed anyone, instead they will have a couple of coffers who they would feed off regularly, who were bound to them. It was almost a symbiotic relationship: the vampire will get security and food, and the human will get security and pleasure whenever bitten. Coffer-vampire bond is quite a beautiful thing, if you ask me. I never seen so much love and trust as I’ve seen between Lilibet and Sullivan, or Frannie and Maeve. Whenever they were bitten they will put their lives in the vampire’s hands, and trust that they will come out alive.

The toughest part of bringing us up, according to my mother, was the fact that she had no clue what to expect in regard to Robyn.

No one in my vampire family had ever heard of a half-vampire before, so when she was born it caused a big stir. So much so that Sullivan actually became the head of the Lyne family, defeating his mother Octavia, in order to protect my sister. It meant that when she was growing up she wasn’t his only problem: making sure the family stayed together, and trying to be a good leader took up all his spare time.

Robyn was born very small, whereas I was born chubby, and she grew up so slowly that by the time I we were ten, she still looked five. No one knew what to do, so they simply had to stay on their toes and give her what she wanted when she asked: she had fangs by the time she was three months old, and full set of teeth by the time she was 5 months old (in contrast, I only had my milk teeth when I was seven months old).

It was clear she wasn’t a vampire: her fangs could never retract, instead she just had very sharp ones always: only slightly longer than human ones, nothing that would cause suspicion. It was like she was split in the middle between human and vampire: the left side of her head grew golden hair like Sullivan and the other grew brown like Lilibet, her left eye was bright blue whilst the other was grey. It was only her left eye that turned black when she let her vampire side show, the veins around it darkening, like a single bat wing spreading from her eye. In fact I was so used to it when I grew up, that I didn’t know it was any different until I saw Maeve’s eyes change when she was angry at me one time for stealing something from her: I was so shocked to see both her eyes turn black that I didn’t even realise she was angry until she started shouting at me.

(Maeve is technically my cousin: but she was always known as Aunt Maeve, and even when I got older I could never see her differently.)

In fact, my first vivid memory, from when we were around four years old, is of when Robyn first bit me on purpose.

“That’s mine!” Robyn screamed, “Jamie give it!”

“But I want it!” I screamed back, holding on to the little toy horse, hugging it tightly to my chest away from her. I was much taller than her, like any four year old will be bigger than a two year old, but I knew very well she was much stronger and faster than me, and that if she wanted she would chase me down and steal the toy back from my hands: there was no use even trying to run away.

“Papa! Papa! Jamie stole my toy!” Robyn shouted, head up, calling Sullivan to save her.

“Papa isn’t home,” I stuck my tongue out at her, teasing, knowing that will really piss her off.

She growled, her left eye turning black, and suddenly she was on top of me, biting my hand with the full force of her jaw, making me shriek in pain and let the wooden toy drop.

But then she didn’t let go straight away, instead taking a gulp of my blood as the bite stopped hurting. When she did let go I looked at her with tears in my eyes, feeling betrayed and not sure why.

I ran to mother who was cooking in the kitchen with Frannie, tugging at her skirt and showing her my hand.

“Mummy! Mummy! Robyn bit me!”

She looked down absentmindedly, then looked again when she saw the blood dripping from the wound.

“Dear lord! what happened?” she crouched down to look at my hand.

“Robyn bit me! she wanted her toy back and she bit me!” I was crying.

“HE STOLE MY TOY!” Robyn screeched from the other room, angry at my snitching.

“Robyn come here at once!” Lilibet shouted, anger and fear on her face that I’ve never seen before.

Robyn dragged her feet, walking much slower than she needed to, head bowed down.

“Robyn, come here, you need to fix what you’ve done.”

She came up to me, her mismatched eyes wet with tears: one with salty water, the other with blood.

“Now, you know you should never bite or drink from your brother, that’s very bad, and if your papa was here he would be able to explain this better than I. But if you do ever bite someone you never let them bleed like this, the least you can do in return for taking blood is to close the wound once you’re done.”

Mum took my hand gently and stretched it out against my will to Robyn, “your saliva is very special, if anyone is ill, if they’re hurt, you can help by just licking it. Now apologise to your brother and lick the wound you’ve made.”

“I’m sorry…” Robyn was genuine, seeing how serious mum was, so she stretched her tongue and licked the bite, licking the blood away from my skin.

To my shock, both the throbbing pain and the wound disappeared: leaving behind a scar that clearly showed how all her teeth were in my flesh.

Lilibet looked at it for a second, then sighed, “see Robyn? it leaves a scar, so you should never let your emotions take over your, and never bite anyone without thinking it through, because they’ll always have a scar from it.”

Robyn was now crying, even though I have stopped, “I’m sorry Jamie I didn’t want to give you a scar,” she hugged me tight, wiping her tears on my shirt, staining them with blood.

“Don’t worry about it, it doesn’t hurt anymore,” I hugged her back, upset to see her upset.

“Now go along, lunch will be ready soon, and remember to share everything, okay? no fighting over things like that. You’re twins and you need to share, or neither of you will get anything.”

Mum rushed us out of the kitchen, and we ran outside this time, playing the sticks, climbing trees and chasing rabbits.

Like any siblings we fought a lot. But we were always, _always_ , best friends.


	3. A little dilemma concerning education

We were pretty secluded in early childhood. Not knowing what to expect from Robyn, fearing she might bite everyone and create panic, but also not wanting other vampires to discover her before she could protect herself.

As a half-vampire, she wasn’t as fast or as strong as a vampire, nor her senses as accurate; but she was still much more than any human.

Moreover, the fact that she always looked about half her age when we were growing up meant that if people saw her, and spoke with her, they would be extremely freaked out how a baby or a toddler acted like a grown child.

This meant that until about the age of six, the only company of children we had was each other. It was then that my father, Norbert, decided that this should change.

“The school year is starting in September, and I want Jamie to go,” dad said one evening when we were having dinner, the four of us sitting on the table with Auntie Frannie whilst papa and Auntie Maeve were in papa’s study talking about some important family business.

“To the primary school outside of Garten?” mum asked, then took another bite of her baked potatoes.

“Mummy, can’t I go to school with Jamie?” Robyn asked, her mouth full. She was always so hungry.

“Hush sweetie, nothing is decided yet, just let the adults talk first, okay?” She patted Robyn’s head, who still looked like a three year old, except for the fact her hair was now so long it reached the small of her back.

“Yes, I’ve talked to the headmistress and she said they will gladly have him,” Norbert looked so intense, as if he was preparing for war.

“But what do you expect Robyn to do all day? if she’s all by herself?”

“Well they’re going to have to start education at some point, I’m sure Jamie can pass on what he’s learnt to her.”

Lilibet’s face flushed with anger, and I stopped mid-way of chewing my food, staring. I didn’t understand why mum and dad were suddenly so angry at each other. School sounded exciting.

“Robyn deserves an education just as much as Jamie,” mum said quietly, resting her fork and knife down, then only slightly above a whisper she called “Sullivan come here.”

Almost like he teleported, though I knew he simply walked so fast I couldn’t see the difference, papa appeared in the kitchen, resting on the door frame, “What’s wrong?”

“Norbert wants Jamie to start school this September. And obviously Robyn can’t join him, so before I make any assumptions I wanted to ask for your opinion. After all this decision is between all three of us as parents.”

Papa scratched his stubbly cheek, “I can teach them, I would be glad to. I probably know five times more than those primary school teachers,” he chuckled, shrugging, “no need to separate them,” he smiled at me and Robyn, and we automatically smiled back.

“That sounds like a perfect solution,” Lilibet smiled, “probably best education one can get.”

“No. I won’t have it, I want Jamie to go to the school. He needs to have friends!” dad paused for a second, looking between mum and papa as if he was desperate for something.

“He’s my son god-damnit! And he should have the opportunities that I didn’t get! I want him to leave this place and have his own life without anything to do with vampires!”

The room went silent, and both me and my sister could feel that this was something big and important, even though we didn’t really understand why.

“Norbert, we will talk about this later, outside.” Mum was fuming, staring her husband down, “but fine. Jamie can go to school, and Robyn will have lessons with Sullivan.” 

Mother picked up her knife and fork and started eating again, indicating that there was nothing more to be said.

Both of our fathers often told us that since we were born our mother was very different. Sullivan used to say that since we came into the world she grew claws, just to fight anything that might harm us. That she became scarier than any vampire when she needed to protect us.

We never really understood that, firstly we didn’t know her any different, and to us she was always very kind, very patient and warm. Even when we were young, we could feel if one person preferred one or the other of us, but with mother we were both her favourite, and so there was never any competition between us when it came to her love.

So I started to go to school like any other human child at the age of six, and I quickly made friends, was the best of the class, and was loved by all teachers: My mum used to laugh that because Robyn grew slowly I grew up super fast for her. But I believe that if Robyn had the chance she would be in the same position in school. We were both very bright children, it was just that no one was around so say that to Robyn except Sullivan: and even though she believed him, it was always tainted by the fact that she knew how much he adored her, and that he would probably say that regardless of how smart she really was. It was then that our friendship started to strain.

It was that year that I met Ross Hepburn, a child from the village, and we were best friends from then on.

He knew about Sullivan, or at least that he wasn’t human, but he didn’t know my relation to him, or much else about my family: no one did. I was simply known as Norbert and Lilibet’s son: no one even knew about my sister, so when I started to talk about Robyn people were surprised, and asked weird questions. After a week I realised I should stop mentioning her, so whenever I was in school I acted like she didn’t exist, just like everyone else did.

It was at school that I realised that Robyn was not normal, and that our relationship was not normal. All the other boys who had sisters, especially little ones, would laugh about how easy it was to push them over, to make them cry. Boys would laugh about how soft and fragile and weak the girls were, and would therefore feel more manly in their strength and bravery. They would talk about how they would climb on trees, and their sisters wouldn’t.

At first, I challenged it, but since they already thought my sister was imaginary, they didn’t believe any of it, so instead, like most little children, I changed my mind to fit everyone else.

“Come on! aren’t you going to fight back?” Robyn was sitting on my chest, pushing my face into the dirt, a tone of disappointment in her voice. We always wrestled before, and even though she was stronger it was entertaining, but now it wasn’t entertaining to be beat by a girl anymore.

“No, I might hurt you or something,” I said, shaking my head once she let go of my face.

She laughed, “yeah right!” she bared her teeth, “I never get hurt.”

“Well boys shouldn’t hit girls anyway! that’s what teacher always says, and you’re a girl, so I can’t fight back.” I was defensive, part of me realising that this was bizarre: me and Robyn always fought, and she often scratched or bruised me, but she always fixed it afterwards.

She climbed off me, scanning me with her mismatching eyes, trying to understand something as if I gave her the hardest maths question to solve ever.

“You’re being weird, I don’t like it,” she said, being honest like always.

Whilst I was at school for two years, learning about lying, about girls and cooties, she was at home with Sullivan, learning almost completely different things in terms of behaviour.

“I’m not being weird, you’re the weird one,” I stuck my tongue out as I often did to her, but this time her reaction was unexpected.

She started to cry, the left side of her face getting dirty with blood whilst the other was getting wet. She simply looked at me, as if I stabbed her right in the stomach.

“I hate you!” she screamed, and ran off so fast before I could do a thing, disappearing into the forest outside of our house within a second.

Not understanding what had happened, I simply went home.

“Where’s your sister?” mum asked when I walked into the kitchen to get a snack.

“I don’t know,” I shrugged, “why does she have to be so weird anyway? I wish I had a normal sister like everyone else.”

Mum stared at me, then took a deep breath, “Jamie come here, sit with me for a moment,” she indicated at the chair next to her, and so I did, chewing on the scone and waiting for her to scold me.

“Your sister isn’t weird Jamie, She’s very, very special. You know that she’s half-vampire, a little like me and you, and a little like papa and Auntie Maeve.”

I nodded, confused at mother’s soft tone after I was expecting anger.

“The very fact that Robyn is alive is a miracle, but because she’s different from everyone else most people won’t see that, they’ll call her weird, a freak, or even try to hurt her,” she sounded sad, and I immediately felt horrible for calling Robyn weird. “So as her brother you’re going to have to protect her, right? Just like all the other boys protect their sisters, you’re going to have to protect Robyn too, just in a different way. Instead of having to fight for her with your body you’re going to have to fight for her with your words. Be on her side Jamie, she needs you, be her knight in shining armour by telling everyone who says otherwise how great she is. You’re twins, so you have to stick together and help each other. Learn hard so you can safeguard her with your words, and she’ll shield you with her strength.”

At the time, half of my mother’s words went over my head, but the sentiment has never been lost. Her speech imprinted on me, and even when I forgot about it, it still affected my actions and choices for the rest of my life.

I didn’t know it at the time, but she had also made a similar speech to Robyn, and so we subconsciously made the agreement together to stick together against the world. It was only much later in life that we found out that our mother was the reason for how our bond grew, though we both agree that it was never the original reason for it.

In our opinion it started in the womb itself.


	4. A Little Tension

Life was calm, routine, nothing threatened or made us think of the rest of the world. Until 1914, when me and Robyn were 11 years old, when vampire slavery finally reached Scotland.

“Things are going to change,” papa said one night, sitting in the living room with the rest of the adults. Me and Robyn noticed something going on when we were put to bed particularly hastily, so we decided to sneak and eavesdrop.

“Shona told me that there will be a vampire auction in Aviemore next month, and it is likely that one or two vampires will be sold there for people of the area. Even though there is no risk of being outed by the people of Garten, we are getting to the point where someone from another village might realise who we are, and call the R.H.G. onto our heads. To make matters worse we do not know who these vampires might be, and what danger they impose.” Sullivan was seating across from everyone else, hands clasped and resting in his lap. Norbert and Lilibet were squeezing hands, obviously rattled, and Maeve looked like she was about to make a hole in a wall.

“What… what are we going to do?” Mum asked, looking around, “if Octavia’s reaction to Robyn was any indication, I don’t expect Robyn will be safe, and the last thing we need is you getting captured by the R.H.G.,”

“R.H.G.? What do you think that is?” Robyn whispered into my ear, but I hushed her, giving her a look that obviously said ‘do you want us to get caught?’.

It was lucky, but the adults were all too concerned with the topic at hand to notice we were just around the corner, listening.

“I honestly don’t know,” papa closed his eyes, such despair in his voice that both me and Robyn felt chills down our spine. This was bad, whatever it was, and we knew it.

“We can go higher north? or to one of the Scottish isles? What’s the likelihood of vampires being sold in a place like Stornoway?” Maeve suggested, as she stood up and started pacing up and down the room.

“Sure that might give us a while, but in the end we’ll still be found out and the hunters will be called,” Sullivan shook his head, “It’s an idea, but it’s just running away… we can’t run away forever, we need to find a way of dealing with it now.”

“No, we don’t. Giving the twins a proper healthy childhood is the most important thing. You said you’ll protect us, and if that requires running away until Robyn is old enough to fight then so be it.” Mum stared at Sullivan so intensely he ended up looking away.

“You’re right, but moving away to a secluded place is not necessarily the best place to hide. The only reason we have managed to be fine here for so long is because of my relationship with the people of Garten… anywhere else we will have to pretend to be human, completely, which is very difficult to do in a small town. Trust me, a bigger crowd is normally the best place to hide…” he paused, “But because of the R.H.G. and slavery, that isn’t an option anymore… Even the Martels have been captured.” Sullivan was so shaken he stood up, looking away from the rest, “With Rea in the wind, Octavia and Venessa cutting ties, Eva captured and the rest hiding too effectively to even reach, right now, we’re alone. We can’t hide in a small town or a big one, we won’t separate, and we have a child on our hands that attracts more attention than is healthy for her…” he sat back down, pulling a hand through his long gold hair, “it seems like the best option is to do nothing at all and simply pray.”

Robyn and I exchanged looks, both aware how much papa hated religion and the idea of depending on a higher force to help you: after more than a thousand years of living as the highest force around, he just stopped believing in god.

It was very quiet for a while, as everyone was wrecking their brain to figure out what to do next, and dreading the future.

“I will have to agree, it seems that we just need to stay here and we might be fine… we just need to be on our toes,” Aunt Maeve sighed, and the room murmured in agreement.

“Children, come out of there,” papa suddenly said, making us both jump in our skins and walk with in with our heads down.

“What are you doing still up?” mum looked at us almost with horror, but Sullivan raised his hand and she hushed: no matter how much authority mother had over us as her children, at the end of the day Sullivan was always in charge.

“Children, how much of that did you hear?” He asked looking down at us even though we were standing in front of him.

“Most of it…” Robyn’s voice broke, “I’m sorry papa, we were just worried.”

“It’s okay Robyn, I’m not mad,” he smiled, but it was sad, “what did you two understand from this?”

“That we’re in trouble?” I more asked than answered his question.

“Yes, we’re in quite big trouble. Humans want to take me and your Aunt Maeve as slaves, and they would probably want to take Robyn and experiment on her because she’s special,” he said, leaning towards us as we stood there, almost shivering from fear, “so from now on you both have to be very, very careful.” 

He then turned to me, looking me straight in the eyes.

Jamie, you’re going to have to be very big boy and think very hard about what you say around school. Don’t talk about me, or Maeve, or even your sister. And if you do you have to pretend that we’re humans, completely normal. Do you understand?”

I nodded, “Yes papa.”

“Good,” he nodded back, then turned to my sister who I could feel almost shivering next to me.

“Now, Robyn, you can’t go outside on your own anymore. We have to reduce the area in which your smell lingers, so that other vampires don’t come and ask difficult questions. So from now you’re going to stay in the house or very close to it, and only go outside with supervision. Is that understood?”

“But papa, what about food?”

“Well firstly, Frannie will still make her daily trips to the village, so don’t worry about your stock of eggs running out,” he smiled with half his mouth, seeing how anxious Robyn was, and trying to cheer her up… unsuccessfully.

“Don’t you worry about nothing, my dear, I’m not going anywhere,” he pulled her in for a hug when he noticed she was almost in tears.

“Mum said something about you being captured…” Robyn mumbled into his chest, and he patted her hair, pressing his face down on her head.

“I’m staying right here, you don’t need to be scared,” he said to her quietly, “you’re safe and sound.”

I stood there, awkwardly reminded by the situation that he was not my father. No matter how kind he was, no matter that we were taught to call Norbert dad and Sullivan papa: at the end of the day he was Robyn’s father, not mine, and he would always put her first. After all I was just a human, and she was a special-half-vampire to be cherished.

“Right, now both of you, go off to bed.” Sullivan let go of Robyn and pushed both of us gently towards the door.

She wiped her face and together we went back to our room, silent, the gravity of the situation not escaping us for a moment.

The month passed and the auction came. Luckily, no one in the area bought a vampire slave that day. Actually there were no vampire slaves anywhere near us until we were 16, at which point Sullivan realised that the loyalty of Garten was more than he had hoped for, and that it had spread to the surrounding villages: We were safe, but that didn’t mean we didn’t feel the rest of the country suffocating.

Constantly on edge, knowing that any second our lives could be torn apart. As we grew we realised really what was going on. Vampires throughout the country were captures by the R.H.G.: The Royal Hunter Garrison, were taken to camps were they were tortured until they no longer tried to escape, and were installed with a collar that latched into their brain and made sure they could not escape even if they wanted to. Then these broken souls were sold to the highest bidder and used as servants, or farmers, or even whores. Almost no one got away, and we were constantly reminded how lucky we were to be so safe, but we didn’t avoid other vampires forever.

In fact, in 1916 we were visited by an old family friend: Albert Martel, and his son John.

“Sullivan! So glad to see you!” Albert cheered as he walked into our house one evening, just after we finished dinner. By this point me and Robyn no longer had the same bed-time, since it became simply unfair to ask Robyn to go to bed so early when she only needed half the amount of sleep I needed. So unlike my sister I had to beg in order to stay and meet our guests.

“It’s good to see you too,” Sullivan smiled, and the two men hugged, then papa turned to the young vampire, with the dirty blond hair and the constant angry stance.

“This is my son, John,” Albert, who was strangely dark skinned, presented his very white son. It was then that I truly realised that family for vampires didn’t always mean what it meant for us.

“Nice to meet you,” John, who only looked a couple of years older than me, shook Sullivan’s hand.

“You too,” Sullivan shook John’s hand, then looked to Albert in confusion, asking a silent question. Albert simply shrugged in return, “I’ll tell you another time.”

“All right, come in, sit down, how can I help you?” the three men sat down in the living room, where me and Robyn were peeking into from our usual hiding spot around the corner.

“You know the situation out there,” Albert started, “I know you’ve got something nice and comfy going on here, but you’ve got to think of everyone… our people are dying Sullivan, and I can’t just sit still and let it happen anymore,” I watched as Albert rubbed his hands together, as if scared to continue.

“He’s old, like, around the same time as papa…” Robyn whispered, sniffing the air, “but the young one is really young, been a vampire probably only a couple of years…” we exchanged looks, wondering why such an old vampire will turn someone so recently. In reality we never really met a vampire younger than aunt Maeve: the only one we knew of was Rea, Maeve’s sister and mother’s old lover, who was the first vampire to be outed to humanity; but we never met her in person.

“We would like you to join us in our cause to destroy the R.H.G.” Albert finally said, resting his hands on his knees.

There was silence for a while, and John looked between the two older vampires just like us in anticipation.

“No.”

“Sullivan…”

“I said no Albert. I have a family to take care of and I cannot risk it. I have a coffer and children that need me here, and I have no intention to simply walk into an extremely dangerous battle because of the small chance it might improve things.”

Albert opened his mouth, but then froze, his jaw still open for a second too long before he said, “children? is that… what I smell?”

I looked at Robyn in alarm, were we spotted so quickly? I was used to vampires, but we used to be so good at hiding… But she didn’t even look at me, instead staring straight at Albert as if she had a mission.

Sullivan nodded, then looked to us, making me hide away around the corner quickly, expecting Robyn to do the same, but instead she simply straightened up out of the shadows, standing in full view of the living room.

“Jamie come out of there, both of you come say hello.”

I sighed, getting up from my knees and following my sister into the room to stand next to Sullivan awkwardly. Part of me didn’t even expect him to call me in there with Robyn. This was a vampire business and I felt extremely out of place.

“What…” Albert leaned forward, staring at Robyn in a way that made me feel uncomfortable.

“Albert, this is my daughter Robyn, and her twin brother Jamie,” Sullivan said slowly, and I could feel he was on the edge of his seat, ready to jump between us and the guests.

“Sullivan… what… what is the meaning of this?” Albert finally peeled his eyes from my sister, but John was still staring at her. The young vampire looked at Robyn with pure curiosity, studying her, a light burning in his eyes as if he had a million questions. His vibe was positive, unlike Albert, who felt to me as if he was horrified by my sister.

How dare he be? She was my sister and no one was allowed to think badly of her.

“I don’t know exactly how, but I have my theories,” Sullivan shrugged, “but regardless of how, she is half-human.”

“They’re the same age?” John blurted, looking between me and Robyn, and gasped when Sullivan nodded.

Robyn blushed, not enjoying being inspected any longer, her curiosity to meet other vampires sated, “I just grow slow, doesn’t mean I’m stupid.”

“Oh no, I didn’t assume that,” John apologised, “I’m simply intrigued. I’ve never met someone who’s only half a vampire before,” he stood up, making both Albert and Sullivan almost jump from their seats, but he simply stretched his hand to Robyn, “I’m very pleased to meet you, I’m John.”

She shook his hand, “Robyn,” she said, head held high, “pleased to meet you too.”

The whole room relaxed, I even felt myself exhale a breath I didn’t notice I was holding.

“This is… astounding,” Albert said, shaking his head, “What else can you tell us child? what is your diet like?”

“I eat both,” Robyn said proudly, “and I’m fast and I’m as good at smelling as papa is.”

“She doesn’t have fangs like us,” Sullivan continued, resting a hand on Robyn’s shoulder, “but go on, Robyn, show him your face.”

Robyn looked at her father insecurely, than at me, so I smiled, and nodded, hoping she could hear the voice in my head going ‘you can do it!’

She turned back to our guests and took a deep breath and closed her eyes. The veins around her left eye started to darken, and when she opened her eyes her left eye was black, in contrast to her right one which stayed its usual grey.

“Woah!” John smiled, clapping once.

“That is very unique.” Albert noted, then sighed. “I understand Sullivan, this is not something one can simply leave.”

Our guests stood up almost simultaneously, at least to my eyes, and Albert nodded once to Sullivan, “I’m sorry for the intrusion, I hope you stay well.”

“You too, old friend, stay safe,” Sullivan answered, standing up and leading the vampires out, and then they were gone.

I walked over to Robyn, who had her left eye still black, “are you okay sis?” I knew she didn’t like being made to feel strange. She had to deal with dad all our lives making her feel like she was wrong, or other humans fear her. This was the first time a vampire had commented on her nature.

“I… Yeah, I’m fine,” she looked at me as her eye turned blue once again, but the veins around it stayed extreme purple, “I just thought maybe they would feel more… oh never mind,” she shook her head, “I was being silly.”

“No, come on, what is it?” I asked, just as Sullivan walked back towards us, quietly, not intending to interrupt our conversation, but join it.

She looked at me, then at Sullivan, “I just, I just hoped that they wouldn’t make a big deal, that they wouldn’t think I’m weird like all the humans do.”

“Hey! I don’t think you’re weird,” I punched her shoulder lightly, “at least not because you’re a halfsy,” I was trying to joke lightly, but her expression only became more miserable.

“Robyn, you’re very special. You know that there is no one else like you, and if there is, they are not known to anyone. So of course both vampires and humans will think you’re strange, because you are. You are unique and odd and even I’m not sure what force made your existence possible,” papa kneeled next to me, in front of her, so that he was the same height, “Robyn, you’re a proper freak,” his words seem to cause almost a physical reaction in her, and she stumbled back away from him, but he grabbed her shoulder, not letting her turn away, “So you should own every bit of it, own your miracle of a life, relish in it, and when people tell you that you don’t belong you can nod and agree, you don’t belong on either side, you’re better than both. You’re better than any human or any vampire who ever lived because you might not belong in either, but that means you’re a part of both. You can use that to pass judgment on either race, to keep the peace between them. Your neither and you’re both. Don’t cast yourself aside because you don’t fit the mould, rather use the fact that there are no expectations placed on you, so you can be just yourself.”

It was the first time Robyn had truly talked about her nature with Sullivan. We were just 12, and before whenever she had complained to our mother she got showered with love, but never had she dared to actually raise this to her father because she knew he was proud to be a vampire, and that he thought she was magnificent. She always wanted to impress him, to be more vampiric, especially since my father never shown her proper affection, it was an easy leap in her mind to do. This is why she never showed Sullivan she was ashamed to be a half-vampire, and why that interaction with the vampires made it come out so suddenly: it was like a slap in the face that she wasn’t a vampire just like she wasn’t a human.

Sullivan pulled her into a hug, then eyed me for a second before stretching out his wide arm to pull me in too.

“You are both so special, you don’t even know the full extent of it yet. But I hope that one day you’ll understand how exceptional your view of the world is,” papa said quietly, then rubbed our heads, “you’ll be just fine.”


	5. The trouble with Adolescence

Like I said, me and Robyn had a pretty calm and sheltered childhood. Even with the troubles that arisen from the circumstances of our birth, we had everything we needed, and were wanted for nothing.

Robyn was obviously half-vampire as a child, with her strength, her speed and her senses, but she didn’t really start craving blood until puberty, and didn’t depend on it until much later. Even though her saliva was able to heal small wounds as we were growing up, it wasn’t really potent until puberty, and it was only then that her poison was actually strong enough to make her bites actually enjoyable, rather than simply painful.

This meant that when her body finally reached the age of 12, by the time we were almost 20, it was not an easy transition for anyone.

The only benefit was that by the time her puberty started, mine had finished, so our mother had already had a little experience of dealing with horny teenagers… but it was slightly more difficult for Sullivan to keep Robyn under control than it was to keep me.

I got into a few fights, did some stupid things with Ross around the village, but even though it was the 1920s by the time I was 16, because of where we lived and the danger of leaving, our lives stayed pretty much the same until 1925. While all of my school friends got jobs, moved out into the city, or got married, I stayed at home, helping out and getting closer to both my father and sister, but still living as a child.

“I want you to be better than me.” Norbert used to say so often, that I lost count, “I want you to go out and explore the world.”

But I never wanted to leave Robyn behind. I was so used to having her around, even after going to school by myself, that the idea of leaving home without her just felt… wrong.

And she was not going to leave, not when the situation between vampires and humans was just seeming to get worse and worse.

Some vampires banded, fought against the R.H.G. between 1916-20 in what seemed like an endless war, and it only finally ended with a truce… of sorts.

The vampires were allowed to stay in the houses and castles that they have conquered, but only in a very small area surrounding them, fenced in with electric fences so high they actually couldn’t escape from. We heard that they were given convicts, people with a death sentence, as food.

It didn’t sound better, but after so many of both sides dying, it was a compromise: at least they weren’t slaves like the rest.

So on April the 23rd, on our 21st birthday, when things were tense between Norbert and Robyn for a while, building up over the years, leaving was for the first time an option.

“Happy birthday my ass!” Robyn literally flipped the table with one hand, making the drinks and cake spread dramatically everywhere.

I just walked into the living room from the kitchen, a bowl of fruit in my hands, and had to duck to avoid a glass hitting my head, letting it shatter against the wall instead.

“I can’t take this bullshit anymore, your fucking patronising,” she screamed at dad straight in the face, her face distorted with anger and her vampire side showing.

“Robyn calm down,” Maeve grabbed Robyn by the elbow, trying to pull her back from dad who she was clearly very close to hurting, probably since Aunt Maeve was trying to defend her coffer, because I knew that when it came to the argument itself she was usually on Robyn’s side.

“Don’t tell me to calm down,” Robyn shook her off, stepping away, “I’m so fucking done with this. I’m done hiding in this house, done listening to ridiculous rules.”

“Robyn Horton Studwick Lyne!”

Robyn froze at our mother’s voice, one hand on the door to the cottage.

I took a step to the side politely, letting mum walk from behind me through into the living room and towards Robyn.

“How dare you speak like that?” Lilibet was standing in front of Robyn within five steps, looking at her with the most motherly fury she had.

They were almost the same height now, and mum was slowly loosing the ability to impose her authority on Robyn, but she still had a couple of centimetres and tricks up her sleeve.

“I’m… I’m sorry mother…” Robyn looked at the floor, biting her lip, standing on foot on top of another and holding her hands behind her back. It was her classic pose when she had done something bad and was being scolded by our mother: it always softened the blow, and she knew that.

“Don’t apologise to me, apologise to your dad. And then you better help clean this mess you’ve made.”

Lilibet started to walk back to the kitchen, feeling like she had won, but I saw Robyn straighten up the second our mother turned her back.

“I’m sorry mum, but I’m serious. I’m not staying.”

“What?” I stared at my twin in disbelief. Was she so ready to just jump and leave me behind? What was I going to do here without her?

“I’m going to leave tomorrow… I just can’t stay here anymore. I can’t get what I need here. I have no privacy and there’s no one around who will let me bite them anymore.”

“Where are you going to go?” mum asked slowly, her whole body slowly dropping, dripping with sadness, “How are you going to make do? People will mistake you for a child.”

This just seemed to rile Robyn even more, “I don’t care what people think!” she screamed, and I took a step forward, inching in between her and mother: I knew she wouldn’t really want to upset mum, that she was just a little… out of control again.

She noticed my movement, and caught herself, “Sorry,” she sighed, running her fingers through her loose wavy hair and looking away for a moment.

“You’re going to just leave? Put yourself in danger? After everything we’ve done for you?” Norbert was fuming, still sitting on the couch, covered in cake.

“Dad, you’re really not helping right now…” I raised an eyebrow at him, knowing he didn’t mean harm, but also knowing that if he didn’t stop teasing Robyn she might end up ripping his arm off.

“How about I go with Robyn?” I turned to Lilibet, “I can get a job somewhere, or go to college, and then she won’t be alone.”

To be honest with myself, I probably wanted to leave as much as Robyn by that time: I just always felt the pressure from my mum to stay around. She held on to us so tight, afraid we’ll get hurt. I was still so young, and afraid to be alone, so even though I might have wanted to leave and have a different life, I wasn’t prepared to do it solo. Robyn wanting to jump ship was my perfect excuse.

Sullivan being gone on a political errand was the perfect opportunity for both of us to run, before we will be told it was too dangerous again.

“There are plenty of estates in the Lyne name, it’s not as if we lack resources…” Maeve added, smiling gently towards me. She was the only one other than Robyn who knew about my dream to study law at that time. I told her about it one time a couple of months before after a long night of drinking, when everyone else was already asleep.

“Please, mother, I need to actually be with people, out there,” Robyn looked at mum with such a desperate expression, her lips tight and her eyebrows pinched up.

Lilibet looked at me, then at Maeve, then at Norbert, and finally to Robyn. Mum sighed so deeply I could see her shoulders sag a little.

“Fine, I can’t stop you anyway… but please be safe, stay together, and… and write me, as often as possible,” mum was tearing up at this point. Robyn ran to her and hugged her tight, “I will mum I promise,” she said, but obviously too excited to truly comfort mother, because she quickly let go of her and disappeared, probably to our room to pack.

“Promise me you’ll take care of each other… and be sensible,” mum took my hand, looking up at me.

“Oh mum, you really don’t need to worry that much,” I bent down to hug her, “this is good, we’ll get to finally see more than just Scotland.” I smiled, “Also it means no one here will need to deal with Robyn’s mood swings anymore.”

Lilibet laughed, but that only made her cry harder, “Jamie, do you two have to leave? It’s going to be so empty here without you.”

“Come on, mum, please, you’ll make me cry too…” I buried my face in her shoulder, “it’s not like we’re leaving forever.”

After much sniffling and hugging she finally let me go, and I joined Robyn in our room to pack my own things.

“Jamie!” Robyn beamed when I walked in, suddenly hugging me around the waist, “Thank you so much for your help brother, it would have gotten so complicated without you,” she laughed, practically skipping back to her set of drawers to keep packing.

Her excitement and giddiness was infectious, and I also realised for myself what this meant. Finally! Going out, having out own lives! Like Ross who moved to Edinburgh, maybe we could move to a big city and have a shining and exciting life, rather than this boring routine.

“It’s complicated even with me,” I laughed, “and don’t think that I don’t want to go,” I walked to her, grabbing her around the shoulders, “you’re just my excuse,” I whispered, winking.

We burst out laughing, running out of air, giddy at the idea of an adventure with no one to hold us back. We were thrilled of the notion of a life with no more lists safety rules, of a life where we could finally write our own routine.

As planned, me and Robyn left Scotland the next morning. We stayed up late that night to plan our journey and our destination with Maeve. She gave us some cash she had hidden away, and run as through all the options of houses or apartments she knew belonged to the family, all the way from the lake district, wales, to down south in Portsmouth. In the end, we settled on moving to Birmingham, the second largest city in the country. Robyn wanted to go to London itself, but Maeve argued it was too dangerous still. Birmingham was big, but it was also not as rich as London, so we could hide in it better. It also opened a university there in 1900 that she thought was prestigious enough, but not too intense, for me to go to. The Lyne family owned a house there in Edgbaston, one of the richest parts of the city (of course), but Maeve knew very little about it, past its address, and the fact that it was kept in good condition by a lady named Cicely Alexander who became the housekeeper long before we were born.

Since we were living in the middle of nowhere in Scotland, there was no easy way of getting south, and since mother didn’t want us to take too long getting somewhere safe, she was determined for us to take the only two horses we had: Genie and Blue, two strong, farm mares. They were more than good enough to take us down to Birmingham, slow, perhaps, but very strong.

We left before Sullivan came back, half because we planned to, half because we wanted to avoid him stopping us. We rode the whole day, stopped for the night in Carlisle, then finally arrived in Birmingham late the next night.

“Should we knock?” I asked as we stood outside of the big white house in 61 Wellington Road, Robyn was standing closer to the street while holding the tired horses.

“I guess?” She looked just as unsure as I felt.

I knocked, and there was no answer, so I knocked again, louder.

The door opened and a very old lady stood there in her night gown, her white hair let down.

“What? Who are you?” She looked as if I made her get out of bed, and that she might kill me for it.

“Uh.. Excuse me… Are you miss Alexander?” I was blushing with shame of waking up such an old woman so late at night.

“Yes, but I asked who are you?”

“I’m Jamie Athol Studwick, this is my sister Robyn Lyne…” I paused, unsure how to continue, “may we come in?”

She looked me over, then looked at Robyn, seeing we were obviously related since we both looked like our mother.

“Robyn Lyne? I never heard of a Robyn… What are you here for?”

“Well… We came to live here, we were told this was family property by Maeve…” I said the name extremely clearly, hoping she’ll recognise that one, at least, since I had no idea what else to do.

Instead, the woman only worsened her gaze, looking at me through slits between her eyelids as if she was looking for my lie.

“What kind of proof do you expect?” Robyn walked up, having let go of the horses, who were too tired to go anywhere.

“I’ve been the housekeeper of this house for forty years, and I was hired by miss Noelle Lyne, who said she was the daughter of the owner, Octavia. Only rule she gave me was the keep the house well, so when someone in the family wanted to use it they could…” she looked Robyn over more carefully, then sighed, “all right, all right! I wouldn’t leave children out in the cold,” she stepped inside, waving us to follow, “but we have no stables, so you’ll have to just put them in the back garden for now.”

Once she had decided to take us in, miss Alexander, or as she was preferred to be called, madam Cicely or Ma’am, she did everything she could to treat us well. She cooked us meals, did our laundry, and was a general amazing housekeeper, even though she was so old. When I told her I wanted to study law she even helped me to arrange a sitting of the entrance exams.

She was a very sharp lady, and soon realised that Robyn was much older than she seemed.

But we weren’t out and clear just yet.

A few days after we arrived in Birmingham we were sitting in the living room, and Robyn patiently listened to me complaining about how hard and convoluted it was to get accepted into university. She had calmed down significantly since we arrived, being a lot quieter than I have seen her in weeks. It was the first period longer than twenty four hours in which I did not hear her complain about being dissatisfied or hungry or just generally pissed off in any way.

Part of me was worried she sneaked off during the night and found someone to feed off.

I was in a middle of a sentence when she suddenly jumped up, swore, her eyes wide with panic, then after I stared at her in question she finally said, “Papa’s here.”

“What?” That was not a sentence I either expected, or wanted to hear.

But before Robyn could say another word Sullivan appeared in the doorway, looking taller, and definitely angrier, than I have ever seen him before in my life.

Robyn was blushing now, her face so red, whereas mine was white.

We left without his permission, which means I will probably get away with a little scolding but for Robyn…

Vampires always seemed more serious about listening to their elders. Maeve explained to me one time that when a vampire turns you, they don’t just become your parent, but your master, and that you cannot disobey them, not unless they let you.

Robyn was Sullivan’s first child, and he loved her and found her very precious, but he was an old vampire, and he had expectations, and because she was only a halfsy, she was never going to be that dutiful.

I wanted to stand up, to stand between them and protect her, but I knew that I would only get in the way, and that even though she was still half my height, she was twice as capable.

“Papa…” she started, but he cut her off, his deep voice booming throughout the house. It was the first time I heard him shout.

“How dare you?!” Sullivan took a step forward, and I felt myself shrink in my chair. I never felt like a more defenceless human.

“Papa, please, I couldn’t-“

“No, you stay quiet for once and listen to me,” he was suddenly so close, towering over her, “Everything I do is to keep you safe, to give you everything you need. I have told you time and time again why we stay in the highlands, and you know that you are part of the Lyne family just like everyone else,” he took a deep breath, obviously calming himself down, “and then you still go, disobey me, put yourself and your family at risk, and don’t even have the audacity to ask for my permission?” he stopped, his voice suddenly breaking, and he turned around, “You had to go around my back? Don’t you trust me? Are you already so desperate to cut me out of your life?”

She was crying, and I felt like he was probably on the verge of tears too. Suddenly I felt even worse for being in the room.

“I’m sorry, papa, I am, I just couldn’t stay there anymore, I need a life, I need my own life, I can’t, Jamie can’t, stay little children forever. I knew you’d say it’s too dangerous, and I didn’t want to fight over it again…”

Sullivan turned back around, “I know you’re not a toddler anymore, but you are still just a child. I understand you want to experience more of the world, but it can wait until things are safer…”

“No, papa, it can’t! I can’t just keep waiting, it will never be safe enough for me in your eyes.”

He flinched, looking down, and they stood there in an awkward silence for a while, that I couldn’t handle it anymore, even if I knew it wasn’t necessarily to me.

“Sullivan…” I got into a habit of calling him by his name years ago, when I was upset about the way he treated me and Robyn differently, “I get it that you’re worried, but if you really want to keep us safe, then you need to teach us how to defend for ourselves, how to fend for ourselves. You can’t always be around, and we really can’t be hidden away in a hole forever.” I stood up, standing next to Robyn, now that I was no longer worried they were going to start physically fighting.

Robyn nodded in agreement, “If you want to be around, I don’t mind, if you want to show me what you think is safe way to do things as a vampire in a city, I’d love to learn. But there is no chance in hell we’re going back to Scotland.”

Sullivan sighed, “fine, fine, I won’t make you go back,” he shook his head, defeated, “but if you’re staying then there’s certainly rules you have to keep…. shall we sit?”

It was late at night, and my body wanted so bad to sleep, but I knew that they will have this conversation with or without me, and I didn’t want to miss it.

At least I had some kind of control of what I was a part of. I was used to being left out of vampire matters, but I never found it pleasant, so I stuck my nose whenever I could.

We sat down on the couches, “Firstly, I’m sure you know that you should pretend to be human. Which means that you both need to pretend that Robyn is the age she looks… I would also suggest you stick with your human family name, since Lyne is known as a vampire family both to vampires and to the R.H.G.”

“But how do you expect me to act like a what? 14 year old? I am probably as ready for university as Jamie is!”

“You wanted to live in the ‘real world’. This is it. If you try to live among humans, you have to pretend to be one.” Sullivan shrugged, and Robyn growled. I did pity her, I could now study in university, go out and enjoy dance parties, maybe meet a girl, whereas if she tried that, people would think she’s lost… patronise her.

“But I assume that part of the reason you wanted to leave the highlands was you want your own coffer…” Sullivan said after an angry silence, and he made Robyn blush, and me look away. This felt too personal for me to hear now.

“The thing is, my dear, is that we still don’t know what your poison is like… so far it’s been pretty… non existent.”

“That’s not true!” She was defensive, like a child that was told her drawing wasn’t good enough.

“I know everyone from Garten you’ve bitten, and all of them have scars, and none of them enjoyed it as they should.”

My sister was now bright red, “Well, I’m not going to stop eating just cause they don’t enjoy it.”

Sullivan sighed, “You’ve listened to your Aunt too much… Maeve doesn’t care about her coffers, she uses them as tools, and it’s true that you can do that, you can easily develop the same attitude and disregard for human life… but can you look at Jamie and be content with that? Will you feel like a good person, a good sister, thinking that humans, including your brother, are so beneath you that you can play around with their lives without remorse?”

It was my turn to blush. I was surrounded with vampires all my life, I never really thought about it like that. I always felt like I was treated as a lesser to Robyn, simply by being human, but I never felt lesser than her because neither she or my mother never treated me like such. I had my own strengths… But suddenly I felt as worthless as a blank page. If she wanted to, she could simply leave me behind, run so fast I could never find her… If she wanted to she could probably feed of me and I wouldn’t be strong enough to protest.

I saw all these relationships between vampires and their coffers, each so different, with such a different dynamic, but because the main one in my life was between Sullivan and my mother, it never made me think that being a coffer was so bad or wrong…

But it was hard to even make sense of all those thoughts, all those experiences, since they were always tainted by my childish perspective of wanting more attention than my special sister.

“I…” Robyn started, looking at me, then back to her father, “no… I would rather kill anyone that disrespected him…”

I chuckled, shaking my head at her violent response. She was always so much more physical than me, ready to jump and kill in my defence.

“Then you understand why their pleasure is important… furthermore, it means that you won’t be able to have a coffer in the first place… our poison is what makes that bond in the first place… if yours doesn’t have what it takes, then no matter how much you bite someone their body will never depend on you.”

I was too wrapped up in my own thoughts about my relations to vampires to pay attention, but I saw how Robyn slowly sank into her chair with despair.

“But I want… I need to eat…”

“I know, and this is why I didn’t think you were ready to live in such a big city.”

“What should I do?”

“I am not sure, you’re biology is beyond me, whenever I thought I understood it, it surprised me again-“

“What if… What if I try? and you come? just in case it goes wrong?”

“Robyn, I don’t need a coffer, and if they get addicted to my poison, then yours won’t help. You want to be independent: this is the first thing you need to be able to do. Find a way to feed yourself while keeping your secret.”

“But how will I even meet people? You know everyone in Garten… You trust them…”

“Garten is special, you know that, but now you get to understand why.” he sighed, “I wish you will just come back home with me.”

“No!” Both of us said together. The more I thought about it, the less I wanted to go back home.

I was human, I wanted to actually be among humans… maybe feel like I belong for the first time. At home I was neither a coffer nor a vampire, I just didn’t fit in there anymore.

Sullivan groaned, “then tell me how will you feed yourself?”

“I don’t know, but I’ll find a way, we have somewhere to live, and we have money to do so, I prefer to deal with this than to go back home.”

“I’m not going home, even if you have to Robyn,” I interjected, “I don’t have your problems, and I can’t let your issues hold me back anymore.”

It came out harsher than I intended, and I regretted saying it many years later, but at that moment I was upset, and tired, and I didn’t care, even when she looked at me in pain, as if I betrayed her, almost anguished.

After a long silence, she finally looked away, “Well, I’m not going anywhere anyway.”

“I can’t stay… I have been gone from home for a while already and your mother will need me, but I will be back in two weeks, and in the meantime you can call home if you need me urgently.” Sullivan stood up, probably realising the tension between me and my sister.

“Please, don’t hesitate to come home.” The vampire added in his deep voice before he disappeared too quickly for my eye to register he even left the room, but Robyn could probably see his movements and where he went, rather than just seeing the space he was occupying a second before empty now.

We sat there for a moment in silence, both bitter, until I said I was going to bed and left without waiting for her to say goodnight.

During the next couple of days I barley saw her, she managed to avoid me whenever I came into the room, and I was too busy meeting with officials from the university to chase after her.

I managed, with Madam’s Cicely’s help, to finally arrange an interview and an entrance exam to the university’s law college.

I will avoid the details of that, as it was long, awkward, and I had to lie a lot about my background, but I did all I could to show my passion, and my resources, so that finally, two days afterwards, I got a letter to confirm my placement in the next year’s course starting in October.

I shouted in excitement when I first read it, and I was full with the instinct to tell my sister, wanting her to know the good news and join in my celebration. I basically forgot why we were cross with each other.

“Robyn!” I shouted, running to her room, but found it was locked, “Robyn! are you there? Robyn you have to hear this! I finally got an answer from the university!” I had no idea if she was there or not, but I assumed it will not be locked otherwise.

“Mr Jamie, I haven’t seen her since last night, I’m not sure she’s home, please can you cease your shouting?” Cicely was obviously trying to be patient with me due to the good news, but she did not enjoy when either me or my sister were being childish and loud.

“Oh? Do you have an idea where she went?” I mean, where on earth could she go to anyway?

“That child is beyond my control,” she shook her head, and made her way back downstairs to the kitchen.

Why would Robyn’s door be locked anyway?

“Robyn! Are you there?” I knocked again, putting my ear to the door and trying to hear any movement inside.

I smelt enough blood in my life to recognise the smell easily, so when I was peering through the key hole, the stench of blood hit me hard.

“Robyn! Open the door!” I knocked harder, panicking. Was she hurt? Did she hurt someone? Did she hurt herself?

“Robyn! Robyn! Please open the fucking door!”

I heard the door unlock, and she opened it just a crack, so all I could see was her bright blue eye peeking at me from the darkness of her room.

“What do you want?” her voice was sore, and her face was smudged pink enough that I recognised she had cried, but the smell of blood only got stronger now that she opened the door, and her blood didn’t smell like that, even if she cried a lot.

“Robyn? What’s going on?” I looked over my shoulder to see if Cicely was coming, but relived that she didn’t even after my screaming.

“None of your business.” Robyn came to shut the door again, but I managed to slid my hand in there just in time, which indeed prevented her from closing it, but her force meant that I probably broke a finger or two in the process.

My curse of pain made Robyn open the door wide, and I used that opportunity to step into her room, shutting the door behind me.

It was easy enough to ignore the throbbing pain in my hand once I saw the inside of the room.

I have never seen so much blood. It was everywhere, completely covered her bed, on the floor, on some of the wall, like something sprayed it around.

And on her bed lied a young boy, probably around 12 years old, his clothes soaked in his own blood. It was clear he was no longer breathing, and from the state of the room, he seemed to have died quite a while ago, perhaps even last night.

Robyn started to shake, and her eyes started streaming again as she covered her face with her hands, hiccuping from already crying too much, but she didn’t say a word.

“Robyn… What happened?” I was honestly scared, both for my life, horrified by seeing death for the first time, and also for Robyn, for her mental being and her safety.

Will people now come after her? Now that she killed someone? Is the R.H.G. more likely to find her?

“I… I didn’t… I didn’t…” she tried to speak, but was hyperventilating too much to be able to make a complete sentence.

I didn’t know what to do. Most of me wanted to hug her, help her calm down like I have done in the past, comfort her in this obvious time of distress. But I was genuinely mortified by this reality where my own twin sister was responsible for taking this boy’s life…

I stayed quiet, leaning against the door as my hand started to hurt again from having the door slammed shut on my fingers, until finally Robyn managed to compose herself enough to form a sentence.

“It was an accident… I bit his neck all wrong,” she shook her head, still shaking, “it just didn’t stop… I tried… it just wouldn’t… stop…” she started crying again, sitting herself down against the foot of her bed on the floor, hugging her knees tight while burying her head between her thighs.

What was I supposed to do? Forgive her, since it was an accident, or blame her, since in the end she still killed someone.

She looked so helpless, and I knew her well enough, even though her tantrums, to know that she was a good person who never wanted to hurt anyone. I trusted her that she was telling the truth, and the scene matched what she said. I could remember vaguely my mother getting really worried once when we fought as toddlers and she scratched my neck, as it was bleeding so heavily. 

“How did you get him here in the first place?” her victim seemed like just a boy, and even though Robyn still looked around the same age as him, I never saw her that way, and it was simply wrong to imagine some sort of relations between them.

She didn’t look up or answer for a minute, until I managed to compose myself enough to go to her, kneel next to her, “Sis… please tell me the whole story.”

“I just… I just met him, he’s just a street urchin… I promised him a meal…” she shook her head, “never got his meal,” she started wailing even harder, and I instinctively hugged her to my chest, my apprehension melting away.

“Shh, it’s alright, just breath,” I tried to calm her down, “do you know his name? if anyone will be looking for him?”

She shook her head, “no, I didn’t want to cause trouble or anything, so I made sure that he was homeless like he claimed… I just thought I might be able to help… you know… in return for…”

“It’s okay, I understand, what’s his name?”

“F-Frank.”

“Right, so what are we going to do about Frank?”

“What do you mean?” she started shaking again.

“Come on, snap out of it. This is your mess, and of course I’ll be here to help you out, you know I’ll always be there to help, no matter what. But I’m not going to do it for you, so come on, get up, tell me what you need me to do to help. You wanted to prove to papa that you’re an adult, then act like it. Take responsibility.” Part of the reason I managed to be so harsh is because I was still horrified by the fact she actually killed someone, and wanted no blame in it.

My tone seemed to help, because she calmed down, and focused.

We cleaned the room, and that night buried the body in the back garden.


	6. Epilogue

* * *

**1941**

* * *

Robyn sat next to her brother’s bed, staring at his fragile, thin figure. She could smell the death in him, the cancer in his lungs.

By the time he finally admitted he was ill and went to the doctors it was already too late. There was nothing they could do, so she sat there for a week, watching his state deteriorate so fast it made her sick.

They were inseparable since birth, as her twin brother, her best friend. She always knew growing up that she will outlive him due to the simple fact he was just human, and she was half-vampire.

Her strange looks always earned her stares, even now in the hospital, after being here for a week, the nurses and doctors still stared whenever they spoke to her, simply because of her mismatched eyes and split hair colour.

But this, slow, coughing death was not what she thought would be the end of Jamie. They were only 38 this year, she always expected not to have to think about loosing him until much, much later.

Robyn kept crying periodically, but had to stop herself as quickly as she could, to avoid any doctors seeing the blood tears that came out of her left blue eye.

Wiping her face again with the already soaked red handkerchief, she cursed herself once again for having such weak venom that it couldn’t help Jamie heal.

Then, hearing him cough again, an idea came to her.

But she couldn’t do it in the hospital.

Even with vampires being common knowledge now, they still were struggling to escape prosecution or slavery, and were generally viewed as evil and disgusting.

So she couldn’t exactly attempt to turn her twin brother in the midst of a human hospital.

This was the first hope she allowed herself to feel all week, and she clung to it.

Jamie wasn’t going to die. She’ll save him and maybe won’t have to outlive him after all.

But the doctors still thought he was going to die… so she used that to her advantage, making the case that his last days shouldn’t be in this miserable place. They weren’t happy about it, but as always it was better to discharge and use the bed for someone who “needed it more urgently”. So finally, almost 12 hours later, she rolled Jamie in a wheelchair into their house on the suburbs of Birmingham.

Once they were inside, Robyn no longer needed to pretend to be human, so she picked Jamie up, ignoring his weak protests, and carried him easily enough up the stairs to his room.

“Robyn, answer me, why are we back home?” Jamie grabbed her hand once he was lying down again, not letting her step away. She avoided his questions all day, but now she could finally talk freely.

“I’m not going to let you die,” she said firmly, holding his hand gently in between hers.

He looked at her, confused, tired from the journey, and just looking… sad.

“Robyn…” he just said, thinking that she was simply being childish and silly, trying to heal him.

Well he wasn’t far from the truth.

She kneeled next to him, “Jamie, please, I can’t loose you… please don’t leave me alone,” she was crying now, finally not trying to stop her tears.

He began to say something, but instead ended up coughing so hard she had to hold him half sitting, with a napkin to his mouth to catch the blood he coughed from his lungs.

“You know we can solve this, I can make it all go away…”

He finally understood what she was talking about, and even through his illness, his expression went hard.

“It isn’t right… if this is my time to die, then that’s how it shall be.”

This has been the reason it took her so long to come to this idea in the first place. Jamie had never made any kind of interest in becoming a vampire. Even though he grew up with them, he was human, and that was that to him.

“Bullshit!” is all she could say, too upset to find a rational argument.

“Robyn you can’t go and turn everyone you ever will care about just because they have a shorter lifespan. If every vampire did that, then every coffer would end up a vampire and there would be no humans left.”

“But you’re not everyone! And if I could only turn one person in all my life you know I would do it to you.”

He coughed again, and she laid him down gently after he stopped, too worried this argument was going to kill him faster.

“Please, Robyn, let this… let me go,” he said weakly as he fell back into his weird, almost fainting sleep.

She stood over him for a moment, mulling it over, fists clenched, until she decided she didn’t care what he wanted, she wasn’t going to let him die.

“Fuck your morality,” she whispered to herself, and went downstairs to retrieve her small stash of back-up blood from the refrigerator. She poured some into a small cup and went back to Jamie’s room, taking a knife with her.

She could have cut herself with her own sharp nails, but somehow that felt vulgar to her, so instead she used the knife and cut her wrist a little. It hurt, but she ignored the pain, and once her thin blood started to flow to the surface she pressed her wrist to Jamie’s lips, forcefully parting them in doing so and letting the blood drip into his mouth.

He woke from this as expected, but even though he tried to push her away, he was weak even for a human, and she couldn’t even see his betrayed expression through her tears.

When it was obvious he swallowed some of her blood she didn’t take her wrist away, instead she took his arm closest to her, ripping it off her own arm, and bit the inside of his elbow, where the veins were thick.

She drank a little, but not much, only until she was sure some venom entered his system, which was obvious due to the fact he relaxed.

Unlike most vampires, her venom wasn’t so powerful, not causing ecstasy like others, only numbing and relaxing instead.

Once he relaxed, she let go of both his mouth and his arm, stepping away, waiting for him to scold her.

But he didn’t, he simply looked away from her, refusing to meet her desperate gaze. Even when she whimpered his name he ignored her.

He grew pale very quickly, which she assumed was a sign that the first part has worked, so she took the small cup of human blood and offered it to him.

“Jamie, please…” she begged, putting a hand gently on his shoulder.

He sat up, facing away from her, took the cup, and downed it in one go.

Robyn steeled herself, ready for what was next: supposedly a lot of blood and mess. She had never changed anyone, or has seen anyone doing it, so she only knew what to expect from stories from her family.

Except, even after they waited a minute or two, nothing seemed to happen.

Jamie coughed again, but he didn’t even cough blood this time, and his smell told Robyn that all she just did had no effect on his health… or his humanity.

Tired, Jamie lay down again, “I told you, it’s not meant to be,” he said quietly before falling asleep again.

But she knew he was wrong.

This wasn’t because Jamie was supposed to be human…

This was her failing. Her blood, her venom, apparently wasn’t vampiric enough to transform him.

She was never good enough, neither to be human or to be a vampire.

But this didn’t matter now, she still couldn’t give this hope up, so she decided to do the phone call she had avoided to do all week.

“Hello?” Deep voice answered, and she took in a shaking breath, realising how real this made the whole situation.

“Papa? It’s me, Robyn…”

Sullivan took a moment to answer, “Robyn are you alright?”

His question and his voice made her break into tears again, “No… It’s Jamie… he… he’s dying…”

She didn’t need to say anymore, he immediately said he’ll be there as soon as possible and hung up.

That was her father… always ready to jump into action.

By the time Sullivan finally arrived, Jamie had gotten worse. It seemed that Robyn’s venom was just enough to put him over the no-return point, with the venom and vampire blood mixing, but it wasn’t different enough from human that drinking the human blood triggered the needed response.

It put Jamie in kind of unconsciousness haze. Even when Robyn managed to wake him up to give him water, he was not really there, not really awake.

“I… I tried… but I’m not good enough,” Robyn said through renewed tears when Sullivan checked Jamie, “Please… can you…? Can you do it?”

Sullivan sighed, “I’m not sure if it’ll work now… I’m not sure if he will survive anyway, in his condition…”

Sullivan seemed huge as he leaned over Jamie’s frail figure. The vampire used his senses to get a bearing of the situation. Jamie was not transitioning, not even close, but he was obviously effected a little. In his head, Sullivan crossed out the option of Robyn creating another half-vampire. Apparently it just wasn’t possible, but it didn’t surprise him.

Robyn was sobbing over Jamie’s chest, clinging to his clothes.

Sullivan sighed, his heart twisting, he couldn’t see his daughter like this, she had him wrapped around her finger, like daughters often do, and he knew that he couldn’t say no to her. He assumed that if she had tried, they had already discussed it, and it wasn’t like Jamie was in a state for discussion now… and if this would stop Robyn from being hurt, from crying… Sullivan would do anything.

“Hush now, my dear, I’ll see what I can do. Go lock the doors.” He gently peeled her off Jamie, and as she stepped away he leaned over, cut his wrist with his nail, and let his blood drop onto Jamie’s mouth.

It seemed Jamie was still alive just enough that the vampire blood did its work, convincing Jamie to lick his lips and swallow. Sullivan waited longer than he would have normally, making sure Jamie had drunk a reasonable amount of his blood, before he licked his own wrist and closed his wound. Then, without hesitation, he tore Jamie’s hospital gown off his chest, and used his long fangs to bite straight into Jamie’s heart.

Jamie screamed awake the second the venom hit his heart, the shock like adrenaline, but Sullivan held him down firmly, gently as to not break his bones, but to restrain him. Then Sullivan drank, again, more than he would have normally, but not enough to make Jamie faint.

“Robyn, you have human blood on hand I assume,” Sullivan didn’t look up, he simply reached his left hand across the bed, expecting her to give him a vial or a cup, while he looked at Jamie carefully. He wasn’t exactly conscious, but his eyes were open, frantic, he was hallucinating. That wasn’t often a good sign, but it seemed that Sullivan’s strong venom and blood did its work, because he could smell that Jamie was beginning to shift.

Robyn handed her father a small cup she refilled with human blood while waiting for him to arrive, and he gently put it to Jamie’s lips, but he wouldn’t drink. It seemed his state was so gone, he simply coughed and spat the blood.

“Damnit.” Sullivan swore, and thought quickly, then used his thumb’s nail to open a hole in Jamie’s chest, right into a main vein, and held it there, closed with his nail to avoid too much bleeding, as he took the contents of the cup into his mouth. He had to be careful, or Jamie would bleed out, so he bent down until his lips almost touched the hole, then removed his thumb at the same time as he pressed his lips to the hole, and pushed the blood in his mouth into the vein with his tongue. It wasn’t clean, a lot of the blood spilled over, and as soon as his mouth was empty, Sullivan licked the wound to close it.

Desperate, Sullivan wiped some of the human blood from the cup onto his finger, and forced it into Jamie’s mouth, wiping it on his tongue and the inside of his cheeks. “Come on, boy, you can do it.” He mumbled to himself. 

Robyn, all the while, was standing at the side, shaking. Did she ask too late? Was this it? Will the last look Jamie ever gave her be one of disdain?

But then, very suddenly, just when both of them were loosing hope, Jamie gasped, then lurched, and Sullivan helped him lean sideways as he threw up, more like projectile vomit, his own blood.

Robyn has heard about it, but she had never seen it, she had never realised how much blood would come out. And then, just as suddenly as he started, Jamie collapsed, and Sullivan leaned him again on his back. Holding her own breath, Robyn only realised that Jamie’s heart wasn’t beating only when she realised he wasn’t breathing.

“What?” Her voice broke, as she stepped closer, “No…”

“It’s alright, this is how it is. We all must die to be reborn.” Sullivan said calmly, and Robyn looked up at him, nodding. Of course, how could she forget?

“We need to leave. I have no idea how long this would take, and I don’t think the nurses will take it kindly to me killing their patient.” Sullivan smiled, trying to cheer Robyn up, but she was in her own world, too shaken to respond properly. He remembered how she was not a vampire, she was never turned, she never experienced death, so of course all of this would shock her. He walked to her, and hugged her tight, “He’ll be okay, don’t you worry, he’ll wake up good as new.” She nodded, and Sullivan thought that she was just in shock, but in truth, Robyn was scared, now that it had worked, what Jamie would do when he woke up.

They were back at Sullivan’s house, or at least, his closest house. It was an expensive large house at the edge of the town, where he could easily run into the forest when the situation called for it, and he had the feeling tonight would call for it.

It had already been 4 hours, but Jamie was only really starting to transition. As they sat next to his bed, both Sullivan and Robyn watched as Jamie’s body transformed. As his limbs lengthened, and filled out, so his body was no longer long and skinny, and he resembled more like a wolf compared to Sullivan’s lion, but it was still a major change. Jamie’s skin grew paler, from the grey of his death to a more constant white of a ghost, and his hair grew slightly brighter, his features finer. Sullivan could smell Jamie’s scent shifting, from his man he never really paid attention to, to… his son. As Jamie’s scent settled, Sullivan found his heart shifting, and he could no longer avoid the fact that Jamie was no longer just Robyn’s half-brother, but he was Sullivan’s own son in his own right. It moved him, not like Robyn’s birth did, it wasn’t as paternal, there was something more distant about this, less paternal and protective, but somehow closer in a different way, truer to his vampire nature.

Robyn was his natural offspring (or unnatural, when thinking about the sheer miracle of her existence), making him protective, gentle, and caring. Jamie was now his supernatural lineage, making him possessive and responsible, almost like a weapon you were proud of making with your own hands. Sullivan still felt protective, but if there was anything gentle in there it came from Sullivan’s temperament, not naturally. And, being Jamie’s father, it made Sullivan also Jamie’s master, but he was never Robyn’s master, he had to experience fatherhood like humans did with her, disobeying him, challenging him. But with Jamie, Sullivan knew he could not _be_ challenged. It was a very different feeling.

But at the end of the day Sullivan was a vampire, and now that Jamie was one too, that put them more on the same page, more tightly bound than he and Robyn could ever be. If any vampire smelled Robyn, they might be able to work it out, but now no one could mistaken Jamie as anyone else’s but Sullivan’s. 

Sitting there, this also dawned on Robyn. She smelt, and she watched, as her human brother became her vampiric brother too. It made her heart twist, feeling as he simultaneously was getting away from her, further to Sullivan, but at the same time closer to her, now connected both by a mother and a father. She had always struggled with her nature, never belonging to either world. The only person she felt ever understood was Jamie, because he was always there with her, but would this bring him closer, or only further away?

The second Jamie woke up, he knew what had happened.

And he was not happy.

He was in fact so full of rage over the matter that he completely overlooked the fact that he now felt the best he had ever felt. Even as he opened his eyes and the world flooded with details he had never seen before, and his brain was swimming from the amount of information that came from the rest of his senses, he noticed none of the changes, only how furious he was.

Robyn was sleeping in a sofa chair not far from him, and Sullivan was sitting and reading in his desk chair.

“How dare you?!” already taking his speed and strength for granted, his body directed him as he leaped towards Robyn, grabbing her neck instinctively.

“How dare you take this choice from me?!” he was shaking her so hard, screaming, not noticing or caring how she clawed at his hands, trying to draw breath unsuccessfully.

Instinctively, in an animalistic manner, he was prepared right there and then to snap her neck and rip her head off her shoulders.

“Jamie let her go. Now.” a calm, deep voice cut to him from across the room and made his body freeze. Even though he still wanted to rip her apart, somehow those words took precedence, making his fingers unwrap from her throat.

Still in a rage, Jamie turned on Sullivan instead, but unlike Robyn, the giant vampire was ready. He caught one of Jamie’s outstretched arms, twisted him around and pushed him with full force face first into the floor.

Jamie screamed, and growled, clawing and trying to get away from Sullivan, his rage so intense it put him in an animalistic frenzy.

“I take it that he didn’t agree to be a vampire like you said…” Sullivan felt… hurt. This was his first vampiric child, and he never wanted to turn someone against their will. Was this a mistake? But right now he knew that he had to calm Jamie down. He cared too much for both his children to let either of them get hurt.

Robyn, still gasping on the sofa, shook her head, “I’m sorry…” she mumbled, “I… I couldn’t let him die…”

“Jamie, calm.” Sullivan commanded, and his voice cut into Jamie’s consciousness, and he suddenly came into reality, and realised not only that he was in fact a vampire, but _Sullivan_ was his master- his father.

Waves of emotion crashed into him. He had always looked up to Sullivan, like Robyn did, like anyone in their cottage did, but, he also hated Sullivan his whole childhood. Sullivan never cared about him, never payed him any attention, treating him like he was nothing special, and giving abundance of love and attention to Robyn. Even though this was never true from their mother, and Jamie did have his father’s, Norbert’s, love and affection which Robyn never received, it never filled the hole of discontent he felt being ignored by Sullivan. But now… his feelings for Sullivan, the admiration, the adoration, was only intensified, layered with magic of his vampiric existence. Sullivan was his master, he would follow him everywhere. And now he was truly Sullivan’s son, he would no longer be ignored, and he secretly longed for that all his life, to not be patronised and cast aside by this vampire who had everyone’s respect.

But this did not make up for the hurt and anger he felt at the fact that he was a vampire, at the very feeling of eternity in his blood. He glared at Robyn, his eyes black and his fangs out without him knowing. Even though he clearly told her, she forced him to give up his humanity, which he always held close to his chest as his defining characteristic, especially since growing up in a house full of vampires. He was determined to stay human, do die human.

And she betrayed him, she took away the only thing he ever felt like he really had control over.

So Jamie decided to never, ever forgive her for it. If she was so determined to make him eternal, to take away his death, then he will not pardon her until he got it back.

“Jamie… I’m sorry… I had to save you… in any way I could” she cried, reaching a hand out, with her palm up, but he growled in return, still pinned to the floor.

“You didn’t save anything!” He snapped, “you took my death away from me, so I will make you pay with yours.” Vampiric nature already took hold of his heart, and like any newborn vampire, he had no mercy, no care for life. But Sullivan was the only one in the room who could see this in context. So as a response to this threat to his precious daughter’s life, and as a generic discipline action, he hit Jamie’s face against the floor with his full strength, breaking the floor boards.

Of course, this didn’t hurt Jamie enough to make him faint like he would as a human, but it obviously hurt, like Sullivan wanted.

“No. You will not. She is your sister, my daughter, and you will not touch a single hair on her head,” Sullivan slammed Jamie’s face again into the floor, “You understand?”

“Yes,” Jamie said through gritted teeth, but everyone in the room knew that he only said it cause he had to, and didn’t mean it with his heart.

Sullivan sighed, “Robyn, my dear, I suggest you go visit your Auntie Noelle. I’m sure her and Jerold will be glad to see you.”

Robyn shook her head, “Noelle? but… they live in Chicago.”

“Exactly. Now, I know you know how to access the family’s savings, so I suggest you book yourself a nice first class ticket. When you get there, tell them I sent you, and that I trust you will continue with your education there.”

“What? Papa…” she was about to protest, but then she looked at Jamie again, and closed her mouth. She scrambled to her feet, and went to the door. Before she closed the door behind her, she looked back at Jamie, “I’m sorry…” she whispered, and shut the door before she could see him growl at her.


End file.
